for one thing, we don't know what the future obstacles in afghanistan and iraq are. and we've got to rely -- retain a certain level of stability on the ground in afghanistan, and i have met with afghan leaders and women just in the last couple of weeks, and they also agree that, if america leaves precipitously, without knowing what the stability on the ground is -- and we certainly haven't certain stability lately with the assassinations of mayors and leaders, including the half-brother of the leader of afghanistan -- that's not stability; it doesn't say that they are ready yet. so having $1 trillion of cuts could undermine our national security. we don't know that we can count on that. i hope we can. i hope we can leave with the right circumstances on the ground, but that is the only criteria that we should use and not cutting a budget that we know is a promise and not a commitment that we are assured that we can keep. most disturbing of all in the reid plan, the only possible justification for a $2.4 trillion increase in borrowing authority is to avoid doing this a